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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27788377">Treacherous (Zukka)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrooke/pseuds/mrooke'>mrooke</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Everyone Has Issues, F/M, Gay Zuko (Avatar), I love my two gay sons, M/M, Partially Blind Zuko (Avatar), Partially Deaf Zuko (Avatar), Sokka denying his feelings, Sokka misses yue, Someone help this boys, Zuko doesn't know what feelings are, Zuko misses Iroh, Zuko uses sign, they are so awkward</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 01:34:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,947</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27788377</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrooke/pseuds/mrooke</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"He 100 percent did not enjoy watching him firebend. He did not think it was cute when his hair fell in his face or when he did that dumb little half smile or when he tried telling one of his uncle’s jokes. Nothing about Zuko was attractive in any way shape or form!"</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aang/Katara (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>63</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>166</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first fanfic so sorry if it's a bit awkward at first! If you have any tips or ideas don't be afraid to let me know!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sokka sits on the ground towards the edge of the small clearing Zuko and Aang are using for firebending practice. Of course he doesn’t want to be there watching that shirtless jerk do his jerkbending but he had to make sure Aang was safe. Wouldn’t want him suddenly remembering his old mission and taking Aang away when no one was looking.<br/>However, even Sokka could admit that he could see the appeal in firebending. Not only did it look cool but having fire literally at your fingertips all the time? He would never have to eat cold leftovers again! That and he would no longer be the only non-bender on Team Avatar. Of course he tells himself that he doesn’t mind and that he’s good at plenty of other things that the benders on the team can’t do but part of him will always feel...lesser. Nothing prepares you for how useless you feel in a battle when the other side hardly sees you as a threat compared to your fourteen year old sister and her little bald headed monk boyfriend.</p><p>Sokka stands when he sees the pair start coming in, apparently it was break time. <br/>“Hey, Sokka!” Aang says with a smile, “I didn’t even see you out here! Did you need something?”<br/>“Uh no,” Sokka responds, his mouth suddenly not wanting to cooperate when he feels Zuko’s gaze on him.<br/>Aang waits a moment, expecting Sokka to explain what he was doing, “Okay. Well we’re going back for some lunch…”<br/>“Lunch. Right. Yeah”<br/>Zuko groans and starts walking again, “We don’t have time for this, Aang.”<br/>“Oh. Okay. Bye Sokka!” Aang says with a wave as he follows Zuko back towards the camp.</p><p>Sokka sighs and sits back down, “What the hell was that?”<br/>No way had that been caused by Zuko. He’s just hot from sitting in the sun all day! He’s hot and tired and definitely not attracted to that stupid jerkbender. He 100 percent did not enjoy watching him firebend. He did not think it was cute when his hair fell in his face or when he did that dumb little half smile or when he tried telling one of his uncle’s jokes. Nothing about Zuko was attractive in any way shape or form!<br/>“I just need some water,” he says to himself as he stands again, “Some water and food and I’ll be back to normal.”<br/>He quickly makes his way back to the camp, hoping no one questions why it took him so long to come back. <br/>Katara smiles at him as he makes his way to the small fire where everyone was enjoying their lunch, “There you are. I was starting to worry you got stuck in a hole again or something.”<br/>Zuko looks at him, “You got stuck in a hole?”<br/>Sokka flushes and sits, “Yeah. It's a long story.”<br/>“No it’s not,” Toph responds, “Sokka jumped out of a tree trying to kill something for lunch and got stuck in a hole all day. The funniest thing is that no one even noticed he was gone until it was almost dark! And I had to earthbend him out!”<br/>Sokka crosses his arms, trying to cover his embarrassment with faux anger, “I could have gotten out just fine if my arms weren’t stuck!”<br/>“There’s no use getting mad about it now, Sokka.” Aang says as he passes a bowl to him, “What’s done is done. At least now you can look back on it and laugh.”<br/>He sighs and takes the bowl, knowing Aang is right. Spirits, his wise monk thing can get tiring sometimes.<br/>Sokka looks up and notices Zuko doing that dumb little half smile thing. Zuko catches his eyes and quickly looks back down.<br/>“What are you smiling about?” he questions.<br/>“Oh nothing. That just sounded like something my uncle would say…”<br/>Sokka suddenly felt bad for asking. Sure the guy was a jerk but he knew how much he missed his uncle. <br/>An awkward silence filled the air. Sokka shifted uncomfortably, knowing this was his fault.<br/>Obviously he didn’t mean to make it weird and he certainly didn’t expect the quiet to persist until Aang and Zuko finished their meals.<br/>“Let’s go, Aang. There’s still a few forms we need to go over today,” Zuko half mumbles as he stands.<br/>Aang giddily rises as well, the wind from his airbending nearly putting out the fire.<br/>“Have fun. Be safe.” Katara replies without looking up from her bowl.</p><p>Sokka and Zuko’s eyes meet as the two boys walk away, and Sokka can still feel his gaze long after they had disappeared into the ruins.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey everyone! I'm so glad you all enjoyed my last part!</p><p>Just a little warning that this chapter does go out of the canon a bit to fit more with the story I wanted to tell.</p><p>Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate every single hit, kudos, comment, and bookmark.<br/>And, if you don't mind me shamelessly advertising, go check out my other ATLA fanfic :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sokka wakes with a start, blinking back the tears that had formed immediately upon his wake, trying to piece together the nightmare he just had. Images of death and war flood his mind. He looks over at Katara, making sure she was still there, everything in him wanting to go wake her up. </p><p>“It was just a dream…” he whispers to himself, trying to bring his mind back to reality.</p><p>But it was so real. Her screams felt real. His pain felt real. The loss felt real.</p><p>He sighs and rubs his eyes, knowing he won’t get back to sleep, and quietly gets out of his sleeping bag.</p><p>Sokka silently walks through the temple, heading to his favorite place. There’s a room with a whole in the ceiling large enough to see the whole sky and high enough to feel close to it.<br/>
Sometimes he just wants to talk to her.</p><p>He rounds the corner and stops when he sees a figure in the room. His heartbeat quickens, terrified that it was someone there to hurt them. He didn’t even bring any protection with him!<br/>
He tried to turn around but he was frozen in fear, his body still reacting to the dream he had a few minutes ago.</p><p>“I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting you to come out here tonight.”</p><p>Sokka immediately calms. It was only Zuko.</p><p>Wait. What the hell was Zuko doing here?</p><p>“Why are you here?” Sokka questions, stepping into the room.</p><p>“Couldn’t sleep,” he replies, looking up at Sokka, “Why are you here?”</p><p>“Same…” he says, sitting next to him.</p><p>The two sit there for a moment in a comfortable silence, both needing the time to think.<br/>
Sokka’s mind is still reeling as he tries to get his sister’s “death” out of his head. Usually he would sit here and talk to Yue about it, but obviously he can’t do that with Zuko in the room. How did he find this place anyways? It’s not like it's out in the open. It had taken Sokka multiple nightmare filled nights to find it...</p><p>“I didn’t mean to intrude on your....place.” Zuko says, looking at him.</p><p>“How did you even find it?”</p><p>“Well I....” he sighs, knowing lying would just make it worse, “I was awake one night and heard you get up. It wasn’t too long after I first got here and I was still kind of paranoid so I followed you back here. I’m sorry, Sokka.”</p><p>Sokka looks at him for a moment, really trying to be mad at him, but he couldn’t. He understood.<br/>
“What made you come back?” he asks.</p><p>“I don’t really know,” he replies, “Something about this room is so...peaceful.”</p><p>Zuko looks up to the sky, and Sokka can see a small smile teasing the corners of his lips.</p><p>He quickly looks away, embarrassed that he was even looking at his lips. Why would he look at his lips?</p><p>“The moon always looks so beautiful from here.” Zuko finishes.</p><p>“Yeah, she does,” Sokka says.</p><p>Zuko looks back at him, “She?”</p><p>“Yes? Weren’t you at the Northern Water Tribe that day? You kidnapped Aang?” he questions</p><p>He looks down at his hands, folding them in his lap, “What does that have to do with the moon being a girl?”</p><p>“Zuko. My girlfriend turned into the moon.”</p><p>“Oh,” he replies, “that’s rough buddy..”</p><p>Sokka looks at him, almost wanting to laugh. That’s rough buddy? That’s all he had to say?</p><p>“You have such a way with words, Zuko.”</p><p>Zuko laughs softly and Sokka’s heart nearly stops. Had he ever heard his laugh before? He didn’t expect it to be so..pure. So innocent. It makes you almost forget about everything he has ever done. Everything he has been through.<br/>
“Sokka? Are you okay?” he asks.</p><p>“What? Yeah, yeah, sorry.” he quickly replies, hoping the darkness in the room will mask his embarrassment. </p><p>“Okay...Well I think I’m going to go to bed” he says, meeting his eyes.</p><p>Sokka doesn’t look away, although his mind is screaming at him to. He had never really looked at Zuko this close before. Had he always looked so gentle?</p><p>Something in Zuko’s expression changes and their faces inch a bit closer.<br/>
Zuko’s hair looks so soft in the moonlight.<br/>
The moonlight.</p><p>Sokka snaps out of it and looks away from Zuko, silently cursing himself for whatever that was.</p><p>“Okay, goodnight, Zuko.”</p><p>Zuko studies Sokka for a moment, trying to figure out what just happened, before getting up and leaving the room.</p><p>Sokka sighs and lays back, staring up at the sky. The moon glows through the dark, outshining all the stars around it.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Yue.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter Three</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sokka pulls his sleeping bag over his eyes, the sun bright and shining directly on him. Everything in him wants to go back to sleep after his long night out, but the heat now surrounding him is forcing him to get up and start his day.</p><p>He sits up and pulls his hair into a ponytail, still surprised by the feeling of long hair on either side. He hadn’t had time to shave it back down again and honestly he didn’t feel like he had the right to. With his father and friends imprisoned somewhere he was feeling less and less like a warrior every day. He had failed.</p><p>Sokka stretches, various bones and joints cracking, before standing to get on with his day. He hears conversation not too far and follows the noise to the small fire pit. He had woken up just in time for lunch.</p><p>“Wow, look who decided to join us,” Katara teases as she passes around food, “It's about time you rolled out of bed.”</p><p>Sokka rolls his eyes despite the smile on his face and takes a seat. Even teasing from Katara feels like a blessing after the dream he had last night, but of course he would never tell her that.</p><p>“I was about ready to go feel for a pulse,” Toph jokes.</p><p>“It's nice to see you rested, Sokka. You must’ve needed it.” Aang says with a smile.</p><p>Sokka looks to Zuko, expecting the remarks to go around the whole circle, but he seems too focused on his food to say anything. And some small part of him was grateful. After what happened last night, he wasn’t sure if he could ever have a normal conversation with him again.</p><p>Suddenly, Zuko looks up at him, “Can I speak to you? Alone?”</p><p>Sokka nods, dread settling in his stomach, and stands.</p><p>He follows Zuko’s lead out of the camp, feeling everyone’s eyes on them as they leave, completely paranoid over what they may be thinking.<br/>They wouldn’t think there was something between them, right? I meant no one else was there last night so how could they know? Could Toph sense it? Oh spirits, does Toph know? <br/>Know what? There was absolutely nothing between them. Sokka didn’t want there to be something between him. He had a girlfriend for spirits’ sake (well, at least he thought he did. He hadn’t seen her in weeks and after Azula had told him she’d been captured...he didn’t want to think about where she might be.)</p><p>Sokka is still silently panicking as Zuko stops walking a considerable distance from where the rest of the group was enjoying their lunch.</p><p>“I just thought we should talk about last night,” Zuko says, looking at him.</p><p>“What's there to talk about? We sat there. We talked. You went to bed.” he replies quickly</p><p>He looks at him quizzically, “So that’s it? Nothing else of importance happened?”</p><p>Sokka shakes his head, “Nope.”</p><p>Zuko sighs and turns away from him, “Sokka, we can’t just pretend that...that we didn’t almost..”</p><p>“I’m not pretending because that’s not what happened!” Sokka interrupts, “We were just...moving closer as friends! It was a friendly thing!”</p><p>“Look. I don’t know what it was, but I just wanted to tell you that I’m not interested in you in that way.”</p><p>Sokka hesitates for a second, dumbfounded. Was Zuko...rejecting him? <br/>Wasn’t it a good thing? He didn’t like Zuko like that. So then why did it hurt so much?</p><p>“No, no, of course not,” Sokka covers, hoping Zuko didn’t notice the pause, “I don’t like you like that either! I have a girlfriend!”</p><p>“Sokka, I’m sorry but I don’t think it's healthy for you to keep calling the moon your girlfriend. It’s a pretty one-sided relationship at this point.”</p><p>His face heats with embarrassment, “No not Yue! Suki! You know, the cute warrior girl with the facepaint from Kyoshi Island?”</p><p>“Oh..” Zuko replies, “Well see, there’s no problems then! We both agree that there’s nothing between us and there shouldn’t be.”</p><p>“Yes. Exactly. We’re just bros being bros. Guys being dudes.”</p><p>Sokka tended to say stupid shit when he was nervous.</p><p>“Right...Anyways, we should probably finish eating. I still have a long day left with Aang, and you should probably get some practicing in too.”</p><p>And then they were heading back to camp, all of their problems sorted out quickly and without pain.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey everyone! I really hoped you enjoyed the chapter (sorry it was a bit short)</p><p>I quickly wanted to tell you all about my friend k0re_c 's first work! She's been working really hard on an ATLA YouTuber AU and i am so proud of her for publishing the first chapter. It would mean so much to me if you would go check it out!</p><p>Thank you so much for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter Four</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter is a lot shorter than I intended but I really just wanted to get something out for you guys since it has been a bit since I have updated. Next chapter will be up within a day or two I promise!<br/>Thank you so much for reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He had a plan. He had a plan and he was going to stick to the plan and nothing could go wrong.</p><p>First, he had to talk to Zuko alone. Which would be easy if Zuko hadn’t pulled him aside the day before to talk to him. He wouldn’t want anyone thinking something was going on with them.<br/>
So he had to wait until everyone else had gone to sleep. Easy.</p><p>Sokka lays still in his sleeping bag, listening to the soft breathing around him until he was 100 percent positive everyone was asleep.<br/>
He looks over and sees Zuko gone, just as he had planned.</p><p>Quietly he gets up, heading to his room in the back of the temple, confident Zuko would be waiting there for him.<br/>
And sure enough he was.</p><p>“I was hoping to find you here,” Sokka says as he walks into the room, taking a seat next to Zuko.</p><p>Zuko looks over at him, startled, as if he hadn’t heard him come in, “Oh, hi Sokka.”</p><p>“I was wondering if I could ask you a question,” he begins, deciding not to acknowledge whatever that was.</p><p>“Um sure, go ahead,” Zuko replies.</p><p>Sokka takes a deep breath, looking him in the eyes, “I know this is probably a big ask and there’s no guarantee you know anything but...do you know where the Fire Nation would keep war criminals?”</p><p>“War criminals?” he scoffs, “Why do you want to know about war criminals?”</p><p>“I just...I need to know, okay? Please.”</p><p>Zuko sighs, “It’s nowhere good, Sokka. You probably want to find someone, right? My advice is to forget it. You’re better off not knowing.”</p><p>“I can’t just forget it,” Sokka pleads, “They captured my dad and a lot of other people. People I care about. People that were counting on me.”</p><p>Zuko looks at Sokka for a moment, considering this information.<br/>
“You really want to know?” he asks</p><p>“Please.” Sokka replies</p><p>“My best guess would be they’re at The Boiling Rock.”</p><p>“The Boiling Rock?”</p><p>Zuko nods, “It’s the Fire Nation’s most intense prison. They built it in the middle of a boiling lake to prevent people from escaping. It’s definitely not somewhere you’d want to be.”</p><p>“And where is this Boiling Rock?” Sokka asks, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.</p><p>“Sokka, I’m not telling you.”</p><p>“What? Why? I’m just asking to...make sure I don’t go there!” </p><p>“Do you actually think I’m dumb?” Zuko asks</p><p>“Of course not!” Sokka quickly replies.</p><p>Zuko crosses his arms and looks away from Sokka for a second.</p><p>“You know what? Fine. I know you’ll just go regardless of if I tell you where it is or not and at least this way I can go with you.”</p><p>“Zuko I’m not going!”</p><p>“Do you honestly expect me to believe that? We’ll leave tomorrow night, and we’re taking the war balloon.” he replies as he stands up.</p><p>“Even if I was going, I wouldn’t want you to go with me!”</p><p>Zuko looks down at him, clearly hurt by that, “You need me, Sokka. It's not like you can fly the balloon alone and you can’t take Appa.”</p><p>Sokka looks away from him, almost ashamed of his feelings of doubt, “I just...I can’t lose anyone else.”</p><p>“You won’t lose me, I promise. I’m a trained firebender, we both have sword fighting experience, you’ve planned a literal invasion, Sokka.”</p><p>“An unsuccessful one.” Sokka mumbles.</p><p>Zuko sighs and rests a supportive hand on his shoulder, “We’ll be fine. As long as we have each other we can do this.”</p><p>Sokka looks up at him and can’t help but smile despite the tense atmosphere, “Alright...I guess we have to try, don’t we?”</p><p>Zuko nods in response, moving his hand off his shoulder, “Get some rest, Sokka. Tomorrow’s gonna be a long day.”</p><p>“Goodnight, Zuko.”</p><p>“Goodnight,” he replies as he leaves, his footsteps slowly fading into silence.</p>
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